ISSN 2056-4856 (Print) ISSN 2056-4864 (Online) WATERLATGOBACIT WORKING PAPERS RESEARCH PROJECTS SERIES PRINWASPRINWANWASASSSS PROJECT:PRPROJECROROJECO CT:TAT An examinationeex of the politics of privatizationizationo offw waterater andan sanitation services in Africa, Europe and Latin America. Cases from Finland and Greece. Working Paper Vol. 4, Nº 1 (In English) Newcastle upon Tyne and Buenos Aires, March 2017 Cover picture: Tammerkoski River, Summertime at the industrial city of Tampere, Finland, 11 June 2005 Source: WATERLAT-GOBACIT Flickr collection (Attribution-NonCommercial Creative Commons) 494 ISSN 2056-4856 (Print) ISSN 2056-4864 (Online) WATERLAT-GOBACIT WORKING PAPERS Working Papers Vol. 4, Nº 1 Research Projects Series PRINWASS Project “An examination of the politics of privatization of water and sanitation services in Africa, Europe, and Latin America (1990-2004) – Cases from Finland and Greece” José Esteban Castro (Editor) Newcastle upon Tyne and Buenos Aires March 2017 WATERLATGOBACIT WATERLAT-GOBACIT Research Network 5th Floor Claremont Bridge Building, NE1 7RU Newcastle upon Tyne, United Kingdom E-mail: [email protected] – Web page: www.waterlat.org WATERLAT-GOBACIT Working Papers General Editor Jose Esteban Castro Emeritus Professor, Newcastle University Newcastle upon Tyne, United Kingdom E-mail: [email protected] Editorial Commission: (click here) WATERLAT-GOBACIT Working Papers Research Projects Series - PRINWASS Project - Vol 4 Nº 1 / 2017 Research Projects Series PRINWASS Project An examination of the politics of privatization of water and sanitation services in Africa, Europe, and Latin America (1990-2004) – Cases from Finland and Greece Jose Esteban Castro (Editor) Keywords: Water and sanitation, public policies, political ecology of urban water, public services, privatization, neoliberal politics, Finland, Greece. Corresponding Editor: Jose Esteban Castro Emeritus Professor, Newcastle University Newcastle upon Tyne, United Kingdom E-mail: [email protected] Corresponding authors: For comments or queries about the individual articles, contact the relevant authors. Their email addresses are provided in each of the articles. WATERLATGOBACIT WATERLAT-GOBACIT Working Papers Research Projects Series - PRINWASS Project - Vol 4 Nº 1 / 2017 Table of Contents Page Presentation of the Thematic Area and the Working Paper 1 Article 1: The experience of Finland 3 Osmo Seppälä - Finnish Water Utilities Association (FIWA), Finland Tapio Katko - Tampere University of Technology, Finland Pekka Pietilä - Tampere University of Technology, Finland Article 2: The experience of Greece 67 Giorgos Kallis - Autonomous University of Barcelona (UAB), Spain Harry Coccossis - Department of Planning and Regional Development, University of Thessaly, Greece WATERLATGOBACIT WATERLAT-GOBACIT Working Papers Research Projects Series - PRINWASS Project - Vol 4 Nº 1 / 2017 Presentation of the Working Paper We are glad to present another issue of the PRINWASS Project Series (SPIPRW). The SPIPRW Series has the objective of making available edited materials based on the final reports of the PRINWASS Project (www.prinwass.org). This project was carried out between 2001 and 2004 and was funded by the European Union’s Fifth Framework Programme. PRINWASS is a major landmark for our Network, as WATERLAT-GOBACIT was created by a group of PRINWASS partners after the project ended to continue working together on the politics of water and water services. Although some time has passed since the project ended, the topics addressed and the project’s findings have significant relevance and can contribute towards better understanding some of the challenges currently facing the implementation of progressive, egalitarian water politics. In short, PRINWASS’ main objective was to examine critically the policies of privatization of water and sanitation services implemented worldwide during the 1990s, looking at specific cases from Africa, Europe and Latin America. The project carried out case studies in Argentina, Bolivia, Brazil, England and Wales, Finland, Greece, Kenya, Mexico, and Tanzania, and developed comparative analyses of the main findings. Although the original reports were freely available by request, and we produced several specific publications based on the project’s findings, much of the material remains largely unknown and, for this reason, we launched the SPIPRW Series to facilitate the dissemination of research results. This Working Paper features two articles presenting edited materials based on the original reports from the case studies carried out in Finland and Greece. These two cases provide examples from constrating experiences, which have important lessons for current debates on the privatization of essential public services. The Finnish cases examined in Article 1 illustrate a tradition of water services management strongly based on municipal control of essential public services. Although there has been historically a strong interaction between the public and private sectors, the provision of essential water and sanitation services is under municipal control, and the standards of provision are very high in terms of quality and coverage. Still, being part of the European Union, Finland has also been under pressure to allow stronger private-sector participation in the provision of essential public services, and the article highlights different scenarios facing the provision of water and sanitation services in the country resulting from these pressures. Article 2 presents a very detailed analysis of the privatization policies implemented in Athens in the late 1990s. The provision of water and sanitation services in Greece constrasts sharply with the Finnish situation, as the introduction of privatization policies in the country resembles more clearly the general pattern of neoliberal policies implemented worldwide during the 1990s. The original reports were written in 2003 and 2004, and therefore the articles sometimes contain references that may be outdated. We hope that the readers will find this material useful and that it may contribute to the work of researchers, students, activists, and others in their activities to understand better the internal workings and the huge impacts of water privatization processes. These policies are not only very much alive, but are also experiencing a worldwide revival. Therefore, we believe that the findings and lessons that emerged from the PRINWASS 1 WATERLATGOBACIT WATERLAT-GOBACIT Working Papers Research Projects Series - PRINWASS Project - Vol 4 Nº 1 / 2017 Project deserve this publication effort. We wish you all a pleasant and fruitful reading. Jose Esteban Castro General Editor and Working Paper Editor Newcastle upon Tyne and Buenos Aires, March 2017 2 WATERLATGOBACIT WATERLAT-GOBACIT Working Papers Research Projects Series - PRINWASS Project - Vol 4 Nº 1 / 2017 ARTICLE 1 The experience of Finland Osmo Seppälä - Finnish Water Utilities Association (FIWA), Finland. Tapio Katko1 - Tampere University of Technology, Finland. Pekka Pietilä - Tampere University of Technology, Finland. Abstract The article presents a synthesis of research results from the study of Finnish water and sanitation services. It addresses the role of the public and private sectors in the provision and management of these services, placing emphasis on the importance of municipal authorities and consumer-managed cooperatives in rural areas. The paper discusses the wide range of options that can be found in the cooperation between public and private entities, which is a long-term historical characteristic of the country’s water and sanitation services sector. In the Finnish case, “private sector” in water and sanitation services refers mainly to a range of actors outside the public sector, most of which are small and medium scale providers of support services and manufacturers, and privately-run small cooperatives in rural areas. The article presents evidence of the levels of efficiency and quality of water and sanitation services, and offers a discussion of scenarios for the analysis of the main challenges facing these services, and suggesting likely trends and future developments. Keywords: Public-private cooperation; water and sanitation services; water and sanitation cooperatives; municipal services; Finland 1 Corresponding author: Tapio Katko. E-mail: [email protected] 3 WATERLATGOBACIT WATERLAT-GOBACIT Working Papers Research Projects Series - PRINWASS Project - Vol 4 Nº 1 / 2017 Resumen El artículo presenta una síntesis de resultados de investigación del estudio de servicios de agua y saneamiento en Finlandia. El trabajo aborda el papel de los sectores público y privado en la provisión y gestión de estos servicios, colocando el énfasis en la importancia que tienen las autoridades municipales y las cooperativas gestionadas por los propios consumidores en las áreas rurales. El trabajo discute el amplio rango de opciones que se registra en las formas de cooperación entre entidades públicas y privadas, lo que es una característica histórica de largo plazo en el sector de los servicios de agua y saneamiento del país. En el caso finlandés, “sector privado” en los servicios de agua y saneamiento se refiere principalmente a un rango de actores afuera del sector público, la mayoría de los cuales son proveedores de servicios de apoyo y de manufacturas de escala pequeña y mediana, además de pequeñas cooperativas gestionadas por actores privados en las áreas rurales. El artículo presenta evidencia de los niveles